NESN celebrates Pride Month -- honoring the impact, influence, and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community in sports
To be a pro wrestler means to be the center of attention, and Aaron Rourke will do whatever it takes to grab yours.
When Rourke first started watching wrestling, the portrayal of LGBTQ+ talent in pro wrestling wasn't always positive, to say the least. There still could be enjoyment to be found, but characters who showed flamboyance and embraced camp were one-note and not taken seriously.
Still, Rourke had dreams of becoming a pro wrestler. The 28-year-old admittedly grew up a hyperactive child and played football with fellow independent wrestler Gabby Forza before he transitioned into a cheerleader. Rourke was a dancer for nine years and enjoyed telling a story on stage as well as the sparkly costumes.
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A mother always wants what's best for her child, and before his pro wrestling journey began, Rourke attended university and majored in anthropology. But he knew where his true passion was.
"My mom has always been like my biggest cheerleader," Rourke told NESN.com. "I think she just always fears for my safety because I never seem to care what anyone thinks around me or I just march to the beat of my own drum. She was just always nervous that people would be a little harsh, but it's whatever. She did not take to wrestling well. She did not understand why I would want to do this. But she's my mom, she supports me. She knows it's my dream. She knows that I've wanted to do this since I was a very young baby. She supports me in everything that I do."
There's no formal path to becoming a pro wrestler, but luckily for Rourke, he lived near one of the most prominent wrestling schools in the United States: Create A Pro, a pro wrestling academy run by former WWE talent Brian Myers and producer Pat Buck.
That was the foundation for his pro wrestling path, but that was only part of the journey to get to "The Dime Piece" and "Evil Gay" personas.
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"I was afraid to be a flamboyant kind of character or gimmick or just be a little more like myself because you just don't know how people are going to take that," Rourke said. "You don't know how people are going to receive that, and you don't know how people are going to handle it. I was nervous, and I kind of wanted to skirt around it to see if I didn't have to. But I was like, It's not me, it's not authentic. Honestly, the thing I want to portray the most is opulence, arrogance, pompous, like glittery, perfection. ... I just think Aaron Rourke's a look guy. He's a man of 1,000 looks. He's just always concerned about being the center of attention. I think that's why he has so many evolutions or so many different looks because he always wants to keep people on their toes and wants to show that he can turn it out, turn a look."
Rourke is best known for his cybernetic look that combines glasses, half-face paint and an opulent rope. It's an embodiment of the "Evil Gay" persona that fellow Northeast independent wrestler Ava Everett helped create and continues to attract attention whenever he steps into the ring.
He has that presence," Chaotic Wrestling owner Chase Del Monte told NESN.com. "Whether it's 15, a couple 100, 1,500 or 15,000, he has an ability to connect. ... I really think he is on the road to superstardom."
Rourke has proven himself against any competitor in the ring, including Effy, a prominent gay wrestler who has been a vocal leader for the LGBTQ+ community in pro wrestling. Rourke himself is viewed among his peers as a role model for the community, a role he takes with honor but credits true trailblazers like Sonny Kiss, Nyla Rose and Anthony Bowens.
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"His time is coming soon and when it does fans will be scratching their head wondering why they didn't hop on the bandwagon sooner," Beyond Wrestling owner Drew Cordeiro told NESN.com.
Rourke has wrestled in the top promotions in the Northeast, around the United States at top promotions like Game-Changer Wrestling and across the Atlantic at Westside Xtreme Wrestling in Germany. But there's still so much more he wants to give.
"I think the one thing I hope in wrestling that I do no matter what is leave it better than when I entered it," Rourke said. "And I hope, to some degree, I put a change on wrestling where we look at queer wrestlers or people of this community through a very serious lens and we start taking them seriously. At the end of the day, I just want people to be reminded that just because we're queer doesn't mean that we're subhuman or doesn't mean that we can't shine bright on a big stage in the spotlight because we're stars and we were born that way."
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Rourke continues his journey in a Chaotic Countdown match for Chaotic Wrestling this month, and he'll take on former WWE star Lio Rush at Beyond Wrestling's "Americanrana" on July 4.
Featured image via /Jon Washer
